AFRICA/ETHIOPIA - "No to the attempt to provoke an ethnic and religious crisis", says the Premier, Nobel Peace Prize

Monday, 28 October 2019 violence   peace  

Addis Ababa (Agenzia Fides) - "An attempt to provoke an ethnic and religious crisis". Thus the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed Ali, described the violence that caused the death of 67 people last week in the great country of the Horn of Africa. The violence broke out on October 23 in Addis Ababa, the capital, to then extend to the region of Oromia, following the complaint launched by the activist, Jawar Mohammed, of having been the object of an assassination attempt or kidnapping by the forces of security.
Supporters of Jawar Mohammed took to the streets of the capital and those of other cities, clashing with the police. The violence soon degenerated into inter-communal clashes.
Jawar Mohammed is an activist who played an important role in the Oromo youth uprising that forced former Prime Minister Haile Mariàm Desalegn to resign in February 2018, paving the way for current Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali. The latter launched a program of political reforms and national reconciliation and this year received the Nobel Peace Prize for how he handled the delicate political transition phase, marked by the access to the Premiership of an Oromo, the biggest ethnic group in the Country that had so far been marginalized by power, and for the peace achieved with Eritrea.
Jawar Mohammed, after returning from the USA where he lived, began to criticize the reforms initiated by Abiy Ahmed Ali, which are aimed at reducing the tensions between the different ethnic groups in the Country.
During the clashes three Orthodox Coptic churches and a mosque were also attacked. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 28/10/2019)


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